What 126 real products and emails actually do
We tagged every teardown in the library with the biases it uses and a verdict. This page counts them. It updates each time the library does.
Last updated 2026-10-20 · 126 teardowns · data: /api/teardowns.json
Honest nudge, grey area or dark pattern?
60% of what we captured is an honest nudge with no conditions. 27% is honest only if something on the page is true, usually a deadline or a "was" price. 13% sits in a grey area. None is an outright dark pattern. That says more about what big brands put on their main pages than about the industry: the worst tricks tend to sit deeper in checkout and cancellation flows, which we have captured less of so far.
The biases brands lean on most
Counting every tag, primary and secondary. "Free" does a lot of work: the zero-price effect appears in 28 teardowns, even though the evidence behind it is mixed. 49% of all teardowns use at least one price tactic.
By surface
The mix changes with the page. Pricing pages lean on how the price is framed. Homepages lean on other people: reviews, logos and awards. Emails lean on time.
Pricing & paywalls 47
Homepages & product pages 44
Email 26
Most common primary bias
Each teardown has one primary bias, the one doing most of the work.
How we counted, and the limits
- This is a library, not a random sample. We picked pages and emails worth learning from, mostly from well-known brands, captured in October 2026.
- A tag means the page uses the tactic. It doesn't mean the tactic worked: brands rarely publish results.
- Verdicts follow the rules on our About page. Honest means true, visible, easy to reverse and in the user's interest.
- Use the numbers to see patterns, not to estimate how common a tactic is across the web.
To cite: "Nudgeswipe, 126 teardowns, 2026-10-20", with a link to this page.
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